Ask any law enforcement officer and they'll tell you that police work is a calling.
Although the men and women who accept this calling may have a few bumps and bruises at the end, the overwhelming majority of LEOs will be able to make it through their career to retirement. Unfortunately, however, 74 officers who started their careers were killed within hours of hitting the streets for the first time.
| Officer Melvin Collins |
The most recent incident occurred in 2003 when Officer Melvin Collins was shot and killed while working an off-duty security job at a local store in Brunswick, Georgia. Officer Collins had been sworn in three days earlier and hadn't even gone on his first shift when he was slain enforcing the law.
We salute the following 74 officers who gave the ultimate sacrifice on their first day on the job:
| Deputy Sheriff Wesley Cherry | King County Sheriff's Office, WA | 1853-03-06 |
| Deputy Charles Daly | Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, CA | 1857-01-23 |
| Deputized Civilian William Barbee | Burleson County Constable's Office - Precinct 3, TX | 1857-05-24 |
| Special Patrolman Thomas Sparks | New York Metropolitan Police Force, NY | 1857-07-09 |
| Deputy Constable Richard Ryan | Ophir City Constable's Office, NV | 1867-08-31 |
| Deputized Civilian Walter Williams | Storey County Sheriff's Department, NV | 1868-07-18 |
| Deputy Sheriff James McMahan | Dallas County Sheriff's Department, TX | 1871-01-16 |
| Deputized Civilian David Harvell | Nacogdoches County Constable's Office, TX | 1871-12-14 |
| Deputy Sheriff John Morgan | Bosque County Sheriff's Office, TX | 1874-12-02 |
| Deputy Sheriff Parker Morgan | Bosque County Sheriff's Office, TX | 1874-12-02 |
| Deputy Sheriff James Godley | Anderson County Sheriff's Department, TX | 1874-12-13 |
| Special Agent Robert Widdowfield | Union Pacific Railroad Police Department, RR | 1878-08-19 |
| Deputy Sheriff Marion Robertson | Erath County Sheriff's Office, TX | 1879-03-29 |
| Deputy Sheriff John Ross | Erath County Sheriff's Office, TX | 1879-03-29 |
| Deputy Constable William Ash | Terre Haute Police Department, IN | 1880-11-27 |
| Special Deputy Sheriff Samuel Meredith | Cooke County Sheriff's Department, TX | 1881-05-30 |
| Special Deputy Sheriff Charles Meredith | Cooke County Sheriff's Department, TX | 1881-05-30 |
| Deputized Civilian William Fletcher | Brazos County Sheriff's Department, TX | 1883-01-15 |
| Posseman James Lathrop | Houston County Sheriff's Department, TX | 1884-01-09 |
| Deputy Sheriff John Gardener | Dubois County Sheriff's Department, IN | 1885-06-01 |
| Sheriff Benjamin Irey | Chester County Sheriff's Office, PA | 1887-01-03 |
| Deputy Sheriff William Cox | Dubois County Sheriff's Department, IN | 1887-05-23 |
| Deputized Civilian Jasper Coghlan | Wise County Sheriff's Department, TX | 1888-09-08 |
| Posseman Peter Anderson | Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office, OK | 1890-12-26 |
| Deputized Civilian John Bowers | Tyler County Sheriff's Office, TX | 1891-03-18 |
| Deputy Sheriff Joe Brigham | Hunt County Sheriff's Office, TX | 1892-12-18 |
| Deputy Sheriff Jesse Hendrickson | Grant County Sheriff's Department, OK | 1893-11-11 |
| Deputy Constable James Foster | Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office, AL | 1895-04-13 |
| City Marshal John Howard | Oklahoma City Police Department, OK | 1896-03-10 |
| Deputy Sheriff R. Williams | Gilpin County Sheriff's Department, CO | 1896-04-19 |
| Special Deputy Sheriff Jack Allen | Gallatin County Sheriff's Department, MT | 1897-01-24 |
| Deputized Civilian Oscar Breaux | Texas Rangers, TX | 1898-08-29 |
| Deputy Constable John Lenhart | Somerset County Sheriff's Office, PA | 1898-09-18 |
| Special Constable Malachi Beasley | Princess Anne County Sheriff's Office, VA | 1898-09-24 |
| Deputy Sheriff William Kremer | Volusia County Sheriff's Department, FL | 1898-12-10 |
| Deputy Constable Marvin Durham | Lauderdale County Constable's Office, TN | 1900-01-09 |
| Patrolman George Pickett | Pine Bluff Police Department, AR | 1901-04-28 |
| Deputy Sheriff George Leftwich | Jack County Sheriff's Department, TX | 1901-08-10 |
| Posseman Charles Hill | Valley County Sheriff's Department, MT | 1903-06-15 |
| Deputized Civilian Norton Moody | Nacogdoches County Sheriff's Department, TX | 1906-03-31 |
| Deputy Marshal Forest Perry | Kennewick Police Department, WA | 1906-11-01 |
| Deputized Civilian James Burk | Big Spring Police Department, TX | 1907-04-25 |
| Deputized Civilian Dock McDavid | Bastrop County Constable's Office - Precinct 8, TX | 1908-08-08 |
| Deputized Civilian John Brooks | Knox County Sheriff's Office, KY | 1908-12-22 |
| Special Deputy Sheriff Hillen Munson | Brazoria County Sheriff's Department, TX | 1909-09-15 |
| Constable Jay Close | Dundee Police Department, NY | 1910-12-24 |
| Policeman Edward Hogle | Nevada State Police, NV | 1911-02-26 |
| Deputy Sheriff Abe Schneider | St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, FL | 1911-03-05 |
| Deputy Constable William Blake | Shasta County Sheriff's Department, CA | 1911-11-25 |
| Deputy Sheriff Arthur Taylor | Harris County Sheriff's Department, TX | 1914-05-24 |
| Marshal William Smith | San Fernando Police Department, CA | 1914-12-22 |
| Posseman John Garritson | Delaware Marshal's Office, OK | 1917-01-06 |
| Deputy Sheriff Orson McRae | Cochise County Sheriff's Department, AZ | 1917-07-12 |
| Officer Eugene Lucas | Conshohocken Police Department, PA | 1917-08-13 |
| Police Officer Richard Diamond | Detroit Police Department, MI | 1917-08-18 |
| Officer Sterling Warren | Fort Worth Police Department, TX | 1919-05-07 |
| Special Deputy William Engel | Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Department, IN | 1919-08-13 |
| Special Officer Webster Gentry | Fort Worth Police Department, TX | 1922-04-25 |
| Deputy Sheriff Floyd Rose | Millard County Sheriff's Office, UT | 1922-10-02 |
| Rural Police Officer John Fesperman | Mecklenburg County Police Department, NC | 1924-02-16 |
| Marshal Henry Hamm | Mulberry Police Department, AR | 1924-09-01 |
| Deputy Sheriff Daniel Hutchison | Craig County Sheriff's Office, VA | 1926-07-19 |
| Special Deputy Sheriff Leonard Cummings | Lemhi County Sheriff's Department, ID | 1928-01-02 |
| Special Deputy Sheriff Billy Withington | Lemhi County Sheriff's Department, ID | 1928-01-02 |
| Special Constable James Broome | Dallas County Constable's Office - Precinct 7, TX | 1929-12-15 |
| Motorcycle Officer C. Bazzell | Pensacola Police Department, FL | 1932-03-16 |
| Special Deputy Sheriff Andrew McGinnis | Muskogee County Sheriff's Office, OK | 1932-09-18 |
| Officer James Thornton | St. Petersburg Police Department, FL | 1937-10-16 |
| Deputy Sheriff Eduardo Dominguez | Conejos County Sheriff's Department, CO | 1940-04-11 |
| Police Officer Henry Scarborough | Myrtle Beach Police Department, SC | 1949-03-07 |
| Patrolman Daniel Furtado | Massachusetts State Police, MA | 1950-10-08 |
| Patrolman Steven Poetker | Waldo Police Department, AR | 1976-04-16 |
| Patrolman Julius Courville | Henderson Police Department, LA | 1978-08-26 |
| Officer Melvin Collins | Brunswick Police Department, GA | 2003-04-11 |
